Seals are used between inner and outer wellhead tubular members to contain internal well pressure. The inner wellhead member may be a casing hanger located in a wellhead housing that supports a string of casing extending into the well. A seal or packoff seals between the casing hanger and the wellhead housing. Alternatively, the inner wellhead member could be a tubing hanger that supports a string of tubing extending into the well for the flow of production fluid. The tubing hanger lands in an outer wellhead member, which may be a wellhead housing, a Christmas tree, or a tubing head. A packoff or seal seals between the tubing hanger and the outer wellhead member. In addition to the seal between the inner and outer wellhead members, another annular seal, or emergency seal, may be located below this seal.
A variety of annulus seals of this nature have been employed. Conventional annulus seals include, for example, elastomeric and partially metal and elastomeric rings. Prior art seal rings made entirely of metal for forming metal-to-metal seals are also employed. The seals may be set by a running tool or they may be set in response to the weight of the string of casing or tubing. One type of metal-to-metal seal has inner and outer walls separated by a conical slot. An energizing ring is pushed into the slot to deform the inner and outer walls apart into sealing engagement with the inner and outer wellhead members. The energizing ring is a solid wedge-shaped member. The deformation of the inner and outer walls exceeds the yield strength of the material of the seal ring, making the deformation permanent.
Thermal growth between the casing or tubing and the wellhead may occur. The well fluid flowing upward through the tubing heats the string of tubing, and to a lesser degree the surrounding casing. The temperature increase may cause the tubing hanger and/or casing hanger to move axially a slight amount relative to the outer wellhead member or each other. During the heat up transient, the casing hanger and/or tubing hanger can also move radially due to temperature differences between components and the different rates of thermal expansion from which the component materials are constructed. If the seal has been set as a result of a wedging action where an axial displacement of energizing rings induces a radial movement of the seal against its mating surfaces, then sealing forces may be reduced if there is movement in the axial direction due to pressure or thermal effects. A reduction in axial force on the energizing ring results in a reduction in the radial inward and outward forces on the inner and outer walls of the seal ring, which may cause the seal to leak. A loss of radial loading between the seal and its mating surfaces due to thermal transients may also cause the seal to leak.
A need exists for a technique that addresses the seal leakage problems described above. In particular a need exists for a technique to provide a seal with separate sealing and locking features so that the performance of said features can be tuned separately.